In a decision describing the behaviour of the bureau’s lawyers and Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell as “unreasonable” and “intransigent” and saying it “should now have consequences,” the Competition Tribunal that approved the merger instructed the bureau to pay about $830,000 in legal fees and $12.1 million in expenses that the telcos racked up in tribunal hearings. (The Logic)

Talking point: Rogers’s and Shaw’s armies of lawyers actually cost a lot more—over $17.6 million, according to the companies—but the tribunal knocked the bill down to a level the Federal Court considers reasonable for complex cases. The bureau raised genuine legal issues, the tribunal order said, and it wouldn’t be in the public interest to let cost awards chill the bureau’s challenges. The Competition Bureau had sought $10.9 million for its own costs if the tribunal blocked the Rogers-Shaw deal, bringing the total to nearly $23.9 million; the bureau’s budget was $59.5 million in 2021-22. A bureau spokesperson told The Logic it’s reviewing the order before deciding what to do.